Y S Lee

I’m in the extraordinarily privileged position of making up stuff for a living. I’m uncomfortable with the term “artist” and approach writing as a craft – though this itself might be a form of reverse-posturing. Sometimes I’m suspicious of my own suspicions.

what are you currently working on?

A novel, THE TRAITOR & THE TUNNEL. It’s the third in my YA series, THE AGENCY, about a women’s detective agency in Victorian London. Think Charlie’s Angels meets Sherlock Holmes.

what has had the greatest influence on your work?

When I finished my PhD in Victorian literature and culture in 2004, the prospect of an academic job made me profoundly unhappy. I loved writing my dissertation – the research, the spark of following an unexpected thread, the thrill of a new realization – but I didn’t want to be a professor. However, I didn’t want to stop thinking and writing about the nineteenth century. So I was motivated by my scholarly background both to flee the academy and to embrace my interests. I’m still a bit shocked to find that it worked out (so far).

what is the greatest misconception about you or your work?

I don’t think I’ve been around long enough to inspire misconceptions. Unless it’s that I would make a good spy. I really wouldn’t.

what do you see as the main strengths and weaknesses of the medium you work in?

I’m completely besotted with language, so tend to see its strengths – rhythm and cadence, endless malleability, the visual beauty of many words. Weaknesses? It’s easy to be lazy with words, rather than to stretch for something more apt. And sometimes I use internal rhyme to the point of parody – but that’s why you edit, right?

how has technology impacted upon the work you do?

I grew up with computers, so write only on my laptop. I don’t think I could write much beyond a point-form list with only pen and paper. I’m not an early adopter, otherwise – only started social networking recently, and still feel very ambivalent about it.

what’s the greatest piece of advice you would like to pass on?

You have to be a reader before you can be a writer. Read as widely and as deeply as you possibly can. The rest will sort itself out.